14 September 2004 -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he now believes it is unlikely that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) will ever be found in Iraq.

Powell made his assessment to a U.S. congressional committee in Washington yesterday. His comments appeared to be his most explicit to date suggesting that the central argument for U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq -- the belief it possessed WMD -- was flawed.

Powell laid out the Bush administration's case for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction program to the United Nations before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.